Desucon Fantasy 2013: A Strange Odyssey

We spent most of Saturday (April 13th) in a strange kind of parallel universe, where the odd is commonplace, the extraordinary is normal, space is twisted and time irrelevant, rings of power and magic wands are the order of the day, where a forty-plus bloke like myself can wave a lightsaber around like it’s nobody’s business, and then when the men in white coats come for me they turn out to be mad scientists who are part of the show. This was Desucon Fantasy 2013, and it was wonderful 🙂

This was my first cosplay convention, whereas our kids had their cosplay debut at Banzaicon in Larvik a mere week previously. That is to say, this was my second attempt at getting in. In June last year, with the kids dressed up as Hogwarts students and the grown-ups as Muggles, we spent four hours standing in line, the last three of which in pouring rain, only to find when we were soaking wet and tenth in line that the tickets were all sold out, and would we please come back tomorrow instead, which we didn’t, as being soaked to the bone and exhausted from standing for half a normal working shift had taken some of the enthusiasm out of us.

Slightly wiser for wear—and for weather—we decided to pre-order our tickets this time around, taking no chances. Of course, this time around they were still selling tickets at the entrance when we arrived, two hours after the opening, and the rain was but a negligible drizzle which had faded into nonexistence by the time we headed home.

Unlike my kids I came up short in the costume department, so with nothing to wear but a lightsaber (that’s a lie, I have three) and a Yoda t-shirt I decided after a bit of pondering to go as a plain-clothes, undercover Jedi. The lightsaber certainly got more attention than I did, but that left me free to take pictures. It’s most likely not the last time I attend a cosplay convention, and I may consider upgrading my costume next time, which if all goes to plan is in June.